Facial Expressions May Misguide While Judging a Person, Study Claims

Many times, we guess people or their feelings, depending on their facial expressions. We often take too-quick assumptions regarding people’s emotions from expressions on their faces. People often surmise a smile expresses happiness; many times, we get a smile in return. On the other hand, if a person sees another one sad, the individual tries to cheer up that person. Meanwhile, some big companies are functioning on a prototype to identify customer satisfaction via facial expressions. But researchers are warning people for judging people depending on facial expressions. It may seem apparent that one can guess someone’s mood depending on whether they are angry or grinning.

But a study suggests facial signs are, indeed, extremely poor indicators for humans’ inner feelings. Researchers have assessed internal muscle motion in the face tied to a particular mood and equated it with a candidate’s actual emotions at the time. They have discovered that efforts to recognize or outline feelings depend on facial signals remains a wrong theory. Interaction with individuals has always remained like a game of reading signs and rolling back. Prof. Akeix Martinez from The Ohio State University said the question they have asked could people truly detect emotion from facial signals. He added the answer is a big NO. Martinez has concentrated on developing computer programs to analyze facial indications. He and the team have offered their discovery at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Seattle.

Martinez noted everyone makes diverse expressions depending on conditions and cultural environment. He added it is essential to understand that not everyone who has a smile on the face is happy. As per the author, not everyone smiles when in a happy mood. Martinez noted that most people who do not have a smile on their face are not inevitably fateful. He said the danger relies on the probability of lacking the real emotion or intension in others and then making decisions regarding that individual’s potential or skills.